Pageant News Bureau - Tiffany Davis

Georgia State University, though it has a rich tradition, might be called a "non-traditional" school. It has no football team, but it does have a jukebox (or at least it did the last time we looked).

A university jukebox? What's that all about? Glad you asked.

Colleges often house the papers of notable people, and GSU is no exception. This huge institution in the heart of Atlanta has the papers of the late Johnny Mercer, the Oscar-winning lyricist, composer and singer. He coined one of our favorite phrases: "Hooray for Hollywood!"

While only qualified scholars can examine Mercer's papers, anybody visiting GSU can hear the songs that made him magnificent. All they have to do is listen to the music machine in an otherwise quiet corner of the university. It's a machine that certainly looks like a jukebox to us.

One of the songs you might hear there is "Too Marvelous for Words." And that brings us to the subject of Tiffany Davis, Miss Georgia State University 2003.

She was active in pageants as a teenager, becoming her high school's homecoming queen and finishing as first runner-up in several state competitions. She later attended Emory University, gaining high marks in her study of chemistry.

But then Ms. Davis made a major decision. She decided to switch to the more "non-traditional" GSU, pursue a degree in journalism and aim for a career as the editor of a women's magazine. Later, as a "non-traditional" bonus, she won her crown.

The next stop is an even bigger pageant. Ms. Davis is the first black woman ever to become Miss Georgia State University, and she could become the first African-American ever to win Miss Georgia. The Peach State is virtually the only state in the Old South that has never sent a black woman to Atlantic City.

Chemistry, journalism, pageantry. And now maybe history. That's quite a curriculum, but Ms. Davis is quite a queen.

Photos courtesy of Reggie Lewis

Hooray for . . . Miss GSU